1. Field
The present application relates to an inspection device, an inspection method, and a program for detecting a defect on a sample surface particularly in manufacturing process of a semiconductor element, a liquid crystal display element, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various devices that detect defects, such as unevenness or flaws, on a sample surface utilizing diffracted light generated from a pattern formed on the surface of a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal substrate (generally, referred to as a “sample”) have been proposed. Particularly, in recent years, with miniaturization of the semiconductor processes, there is a need for higher accuracy also in the defect control of samples.
As an example, Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-302354 discloses an electronic circuit component inspection device that selects a rejection candidate area of a substrate based on a difference between good reference color data, which is determined in advance, and color data of an inspection surface based on a color image.
Incidentally, in order to accurately observe patterns in the above-described defect inspection, the observation is preferably performed focusing on a portion noticeably exhibiting a pattern characteristic among the analysis results. However, it is complicated to identify the portion noticeably exhibiting a pattern characteristic in the analysis results, and there is still a need for improvement in this point.
The present application is intended to solve the above-described problem in the conventional technique. It is a proposition of the present invention to provide a means for easily identifying a portion noticeably exhibiting a pattern characteristic in the analysis results.